Patriots' poor decision-making has led to their mediocrity

It's now clear, NBC's Tom Curran had it right all along. Robert Kraft and the "astute' New England Patriots ownership decided to cut ties with Bill Belichick a while back. One might hazard the comment, "There they go again." For the second time in four years, Robert Kraft has flopped in his handling of a tricky situation with a Patriots and NFL legend.

News of BiIl Belichick's impending ill-advised firing was as clear as the nose on your face. Curran had the scoop, and if you watched the NFL broadcast of last Sunday's Jets game, the proverbial feline was definitely out of the bag. It was just a matter of when and how.

Once again, as in the less-than-optimal departure of the even greater GOAT, Tom Brady in 2020, Kraft failed to broker a solution to a sticky situation directly under his control. It could have/should have been mediated and achieved. Instead, here we are again, in the aftermath (certainly not in the afterglow!) of another unceremonious "mutual parting of the ways" of another Patriots legend.

New England Patriots fumble the ball again

Businessmen can be hard, uncompromising people when it comes to the bottom line. Employees are lopped off payrolls haphazardly to help fatten up the "bottom line" and their bonus checks at the end of the year. Hundreds and thousands are cast adrift without a second thought. This is not one of those cases.

Robert Kraft and his team had lots of time to think about and deal with this situation. Having totally botched the Brady situation in 2019, he has now doubled down on his ill-treatment of yet another all-time great. Astute businessmen are supposed to be able to fashion solutions to awkward situations. The easy way is just to send someone packing, as they just did with Belichick. Yet, every individual case is different and in the case of Brady and Belichick, these were NFL super-special cases.

The suggestion or argument here was that there was no way the team should fire Head Coach Bill Belichick. In fact, in reality, Coach Belichick wasn't even the problem with the current shabby state of the team. It was GM Belichick who was the prime architect of this mess, beginning with his desire to broom Brady after the Super Bowl win in early 2019. It's all cascaded downhill since then.

To a great extent, Belichick "made his own" bed with that boneheaded move, and that chicken has now come fully home to roost. Yet, it was Kraft who had the final say and the ultimate responsibility to clean up that mess, and it was the owner who ultimately made the worst possible decision. Now, he's done it again.

Not being able to come to an accommodation with Belichick when he publicly said he was amenable to changes in personnel, the real kernel of the problems, should have been a clear message. Let's work this out. After all, how many times ever had Belichick gone public, in this case VERY public, with any closely held information on any football-related topic? Answer: NONE.

New England Patriots have made their own bed

Belichick should have largely ceded control over personnel to a new GM as he had to an extent himself suggested. Of course, he'd have had a say in what transpired as every NFL coach probably does. But the track record after the Brady fiasco was such both in drafting and free agency that it was time to go in a different direction - in personnel. No argument at all with that.

Yet, with a 24-year Head Coach who'd brought you six Super Bowl Lombardi Trophies, careful handling was required. It's called "due deference". There is no way Bill Belichick (if he decides to continue coaching, and he will, it is who he is) should ever have twirled a whistle in anger again as a Head Coach other than in Foxborough.

As in the Brady case, Robert Kraft's inability to fashion solutions in special cases, as both "were", has led to a wholly distasteful situation for both Kraft, his franchise, and the loyal Patriot Nation. Many if not most will likely be upset if not in an uproar at this stumbling, bumbling, and clear mishandling of yet another all-time "special case".

It was Belichick the general manager who was the problem, not Bill the head coach. Head Coach Bill has forgotten more about football in the past two weeks than most NFL people will ever learn. No coach could have turned the chicken bleep personnel mess for which he was responsible, into chicken salad. Not happening. And it was that Belichick, the GM, who needed to step aside.

Kraft's failure to work things out as a real business leader is wont to do has again made a mess of things in Foxborough. It's another PR disaster (they're very aware of that you know), like the Brady catastrophe, and it will haunt the franchise for years to come.

Bill Belichick, the Head Coach, deserved due deference, consideration, and professional and personal courtesy in light of his long and dedicated service and amazing contributions to one of the most impressive sports eras ever in any sport. He should have been able to leave New England on his terms, just as Brady should have.

Now, all that's left for the team in the ensuing weeks is to try to restore some dignity to the franchise. It has gone off the rails, is in disarray, and has now botched the exits of its two most prominent actors in history. If you are a member of Patriot Nation, you'll probably have an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach today and maybe for a considerable time to come.

Bill Belichick is out as Head Coach of the New England Patriots. Playoff games are about to begin, but this story overshadows all of it, and for good reason. The greatest coach in NFL history has been fired by the New England Patriots. Now, we can only watch and see what eventuates as the team seeks to pick up the pieces of yet another appalling exit performance. The guess here is, they will be under a very intense spotlight.

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